Probate court rejects Last Will where undisclosed lawyer’s girlfriend was named decedent’s pet caretaker.

Doesn’t matter if you’re Leona Helmsley’s dog, the Maltese Trouble, or one of the lesser known dogs and cats of Kay Elaine Johnston discussed below. Seems you just can’t leave big bucks to your pets – – – not unless you do everything strictly by the book and especially, without monkey business.

Last summer, there was the tail (sic) of Conchita the Chihuahua. She was left $3 million bucks by the late Gail Posner who died of cancer and left her posh Miami Beach digs to her dog to live in the comfort and style she’d grown accustomed to. And of course, there was a relative that objected to the bowwow benevolent bequest.

World’s oldest dog?

And who can forget the oft-told but likely apocryphal story about the caretaker with the world’s oldest living dog. The caretaker had been appointed in the decedent’s will to take care of a much beloved black labrador retriever. But after the dog died, the ‘creative’ caretaker kept replacing the black lab with a similar looking dog so she could keep receiving payments under the pet trust.

But in the case of the late Kay Elaine Johnston, Probate Court Judge Susan Tate said there was dissimulation of a different kind. Judge Tate ruled there was “deception” when the decedent’s lawyer, Robert Johnson, named Kyria Wilhite as caretaker for the 50 cats and 6 dogs that had been cared for by Kay Elaine Johnston. To care for her beloved animals, Wilhite was to receive $50,000 a year plus expenses and “reasonable compensation” for her services.

The problem was that lawyer Robert Johnson failed to tell anyone that caretaker Wilhite was also his girlfriend when he prepared Kay Johnston’s will. Yah think there was anything ethically wrong with that? (Surprisingly, even though Carol Phillips, the decedent’s cousin, complained about this to the Georgia State Bar, her complaint was dismissed. Go figure). See “New turn in dispute of estate“ and “Georgia judge overturns will for pet care.”

After Johnston’s December 2007 death, in addition for caring for the pets, Wilhite got the house and 7 acres of Johnston’s property. Wilhite and Johnston, however, had only known each other a couple of months. But then the elderly do make especially fast friends and confidants. Yah think? A video news link to the story is at http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=919963163001

Maybe, he thought, like some lawyers and professional fiduciaries apparently do, that since his fee was such a ‘bargain’ at $150.00 per hour, he could charge for every picayune visit and task whether it involved professional services work or not.